Claria inks and Pictorico Hi-Gloss White Film

[Marco Annaratone]

For a project I just completed I need the most extreme glossy look I can produce, so I bought some Pictorico Hi-Gloss White Film and the Claria inks (Epson R1400) seem to be a perfect match, _on_paper_. I also plan to boost the effect (!) by using diasec (TM) on top (and probably dibond or alluminum in the back).

Has anybody used this combination of inks and paper? Bronzing is likely to be a problem, but how bad of a problem? Will diasec be ok with the claria-pictorico combination?

Please talk me out of this before I throw too much money away :-)

Thanks!!!!!

Cheers

[Peter De Smidt]

You can try something like PremierArt Spray, which will greatly minimize any bronzing or gloss differential.

[Marco]

Marco, I recently had a very long discussion with the owner of Laboratorio Arti Bovisa, which is one of the "top five" mounting lab here in Milan, and he confirmed that there is no way to mount an inkjet print directly with diasec/plexiglass (I was told the same by another lab in Holland), it simply does not work (air bubbles, adherence problems), the only way to mount an inkjet print with diasec/plexiglass is to coat its surface with a clear laminate, but in this way you "loose" something, i.e. the glossy surface of the paper is not that important anymore and you'll have a less emphasized colour-contrast (the emphasize colour contrast is one of the benefits of plexiglass)...

On the other side, when you coat an inkjet print with a laminate, bronzing is not an issue anymore...


Ciao!!

Marco

[Marco Annaratone]

Ilfochrome Classic (Cibachrome) or Fuji Super Gloss paper is what you need. That and a lab to process it.
Nothing in digital printing can match it yet.

I cannot comment on the Fuji Super Gloss, but as someone who routinely shoots 16x12 in-camera Ilfochrome I have to say that the Pictorico Hi-Gloss White Film with dye-based inks is a superb alternative to Ilfochrome. Different overall feeling, granted --- definitely less "metallic" that of the Pictorico (besides the obvious differences in the substrate) --- but as stunning. Archival quality also favors Ilfochrome over a Pictorico HGW + Claria, but probably less so than what used to be the case.

Too bad one can't mount the Pictorico with the Claria on diasec, according to Marco. Unfortunately, Ilfochrome is not an option for me in this project (that would work wonders on diasec, I know that!) as I am starting from digital RAW images.

Thanks anyway!

Cheers